Dress shirt construction



Aug. 24, 1954 GATTO 2,686,915

DRESS SHIRT CONSTRUCTION Filed April 7, 1953 FIG. 2.

JNVENTOR. P 559; GATT'O l4 I BY Patented Aug. 24, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DRESS SHIRT CONSTRUCTION Robert Gatto, Brooklyn, N. Y. Application April 7, 1953, Serial No. 347,223

2 Claims. 1 This invention relates to shirts, more particularly to dress shirts adapted to support a row of studs at the front portion thereof.

A widely used type of dress shirt is that with a split front, like conventional front-button shirts in contradistinction to the dress shirt with a split back portion buttoned at the rear but having separate apertures at the front for receiving ornamental studs therethrough. The said conventional split-front type of dress shirt has overlapping front portions each containing a row of apertures in registry with the apertures of the complementary overlapping portion, whereby studs can be passed through the pairs of coinciding apertures to serve both as fasteners and as ornaments. It is a known fact that the insertion of studs through said apertures is an inconvenient process, requiring considerable care and skill to prevent an unsightly wrinkling of the front of the shirt, particularly so when the overlapping front portions have been starched to stiffness or semi-stiffness, as is often required by wearers of dress shirts. The reason for this difficulty becomes apparent when it is considered that in order to insert the stud from the rear surface of the inner overlapped portion, the front overlapping portion must be bent out of the way to enable access to be had to said rear surface.

The resulting wrinkling or creasing of the bentback front portion defeats the basic sartorial requirement of neatness in formal wear.

It is primarily within the contemplation of my invention to provide a. split-front type of dress shirt in which the aforementioned shortcomings are avoided. More specifically, it is an object of my invention to enable a dress shirt of the said type to support therein one or more conventional ornamental studs without the aforesaid inconvenience of inserting the studs through the rear overlapped portion of the shirt front. And in this aspect of my invention it is an object to enable a split-front type of dress shirt to be buttoned closed with the same case as buttoning together the split front of a conventional non-dress type of shirt, and which will at the same time enable the ready insertion of stud elements for frontal display.

It is also within my contemplation to provide a dress shirt having the features above-mentioned, and which is additionally provided with means to completely hide from view the button fasteners, showing only the heads of the studs. And it is my further objective to so arrange said button fasteners and stud apertures so as to prevent interference therebetween, thereby to eliminate bulkiness and provide a flat smooth studsupporting shirt front.

Another object of my invention is to provide a simple and readily fabricated construction which will have the features aforesaid.

Other objects, features and advantages will appear from the drawings and the description hereinafter given.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure l is a fragmentary front view of a dress shirt in accordance with my invention, the front portion being curled back to show the inner construction, some studs being shown in place by dot-dash lines.

Figure 2 is a front view of the shirt of Figure l, with the outer flap in closed position, and showing studs in place.

Figure 3 is a section of Figure 2 taken along line 3-3.

Figure 4 is a section of Figure 2 taken along line 44.

Figure 5 is a section of Figure 1 taken along line 55.

In the form of my invention illustrated in the drawings, the shirt II) contains the overlapping front marginal portions II and I2, inner portion II being overlapped by outer portion I2. The said overlapped portion I I contains a row of buttons I3 sewed on in conventional manner and disposed in spaced adjacent relation to the front edge I4. In the preferred form of my invention, the said overlapping portion I2 has two overlap ping flaps I5 and I6 secured together at the juncture line I1. In this preferred form, the front flap I6 is a continuous portion of the front shirt section I8, whereas the inner or intermediate flap I5 is a separate strip attached by stitching to said front section I8, and extending vertically substantially along the entire front of the shirt, or at least along such portion thereof adapted to support studs. The width of outer flap I6 is no less than that of flap I5, so that when the former is operatively in place, as illustrated in Figure 2, it will completely overlap and conceal the inner flap I5.

The said inner flap I5 contains along the ver tical length thereof a row of buttonholes I 9 positioned for registry with the said buttons I3, so that the latter may be inserted through the said buttonholes. The flap Iii contains a vertical row of stud-receiving apertures 20, these being preferably in staggered relation with respect to the said buttonholes I9.

Inasmuch as the studs 2I are not employed as fastening means to secure together the said overlapping portions II and I2, they can be inserted through apertures 28 before the shirt is put on. In this manner, there is a minimum of bending or distortion of said front flap l6, since the inserting process can be performed with the shirt in any position for convenient handling. Thereafter, When the shirt is placed on the body, the said sections H and I2 are secured together by inserting the buttons [3 through the buttonholes [9, an operation whichcan readily be performed without wrinkling the inner flap I5, and obviously with no wrinkling or creasing of outer flap l6. Should it be desired to insert the studs 2! after the shirt has been put on the'body and the overlapping portions I I and I2 buttoned together, the flap Hi can be gently turned back, as indicated in Figure 1, and the studs inserted with the danger of wrinkling reduced to a minimum, since the studs pass through the conveniently positioned outer flaps l6, and are not required to be passed behind edge l4 to the inner surface of overlapped section H as is required in conventional shirts.

When the outer flap I6 is in overlapping relation to inner flap l5, the latter is completely hidden from view, as aforesaid, thereby also hiding buttons l3. To vfurther reduce any-suggestion that there are buttons 13 behind outer flap l6, the above-described staggered arrangement of apertures 26 with respect to buttons [3 completely eliminates any interference between the studs and buttons, thereby presenting a. relatively flat and smooth front flap I6.

The arrangement is hence such that the shirt gives the outwardappearance of a conventional dress shirt with a row of studs in the front thereof, and yet has the advantages of ease of closure of the shirt and of attachment of studs, as well as a wrinkle-free front. It is also apparent that the construction is relatively simple, making for a comparatively inexpensive garment.

In the above description, the invention has been disclosed merely by way of example and in preferred manner; but obviously many variations and modifications may be made therein. It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or manner of practicing same, except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a dress shirt, two overlapping front mar ginal portions comprising an outer overlapping portion and an inner overlapped portion, said outer portion comprising an outer and an inner flap joined together along a juncture line in spaced relation to the front lateral edge of said outeroverlapping portion, said inner flap having therein a plurality of buttonholes, said overlapped portion having a plurality of buttons therein positioned and proportionad ior operative registry and insertion through said buttonholes, said buttons when operatively inserted through said buttonholes being disposed between said outer and inner flaps, said outer flap having a plurality of stud-receiving apertures therein in staggered relation to said buttonholes, said outer flap being swingable away-from said inner flap from said juncture line, thereby to expose the inner surface of said outer flap for enabling the insertion of suitable studs through the said apertures therein.

2. In a dress shirt, the combination according to claim 1, said shirt having a front section that is continuous and an integral part of said outer flap, said inner flap being a separate member secured to said section at said juncture line, "the width of said outer flap being at least equal to that of said inner flap to conceal the latter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 277,744 Kimball May 15, 1 883 1,039,144 Krerner Sept. 241, 1912' 1,752,186 .Labovitz Mar. 25, 1930 2,381,601 Lane Aug. 7. 1945 

